October, 1913-] 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



15 



the Corsican Orchid. I myself found it on 

 the east coast from Sisco m the far north 

 down to Casamozza, on the west about 

 Ajaccio, which is distinctly southern, and in 

 the very centre of the island about Ponte 

 Leccia. Almost as common is the green- 

 winged Meadow, O. mono, with its purple 

 blossoms and green veined hood. This, too, 

 I saw in the same wide area, but not in quite 

 such large numbers. 



One of the most interesting Orchids it has 

 been my luck to meet is O. Gennarii, whose 

 parents are the two kinds just mentioned. 

 This hybrid, which strongly resembles its 

 father and its mother, being about half-way 

 between the two, is fairly common with them 

 in the Pietranera district. As a general rule 

 all the Orchids seem happiest on the northern 

 slopes of the Corsican hills, but this trio 

 generally seems to prefer the full sun of the 

 south, though it is by no means particular. 



The Orchids are usually to be found in the 

 maquis, that sweet-scented carpet of aromatic 

 shrubs which covers about two-thirds of the 

 entire island. Corsica has no Orchids entirely 

 of its own, as it has of other genera. The 

 nearest approach is O. insularis, which has 

 also been found on the neighbouring islands 

 of Sardinia, Elba and Girlio, but I believe 

 nowhere else. It is a stately plant with clear 

 yellow blossoms, but in Sardinia its flowers 

 are purple. It is strange how the yellow 

 kinds assume a purple tint in this part of the 

 world. O. provincalis is another example. I 

 have examined many thousands of specimens 

 m Tuscany which have always been yellow, 

 here the colour is just as frequently either 

 purple or pink as the pretty primrose shade. 

 It seems happiest when growing on dry, 

 partially shaded stone walls. 



If once a particular kind of Orchid is found 

 on the island it is afterwards usually to be 

 seen in incredible quantities. Usually, but 

 not always, for Bloody Fingers — I like our 

 old English name O. mascula — I only found 

 once under some huge beech trees in one of 

 the side glens of the Asco valley. It 

 appeared to be the variety speciosa, the most 

 common form in the Mediterranean region, 

 for it was very vivid in colouring and lacking 



in the unpleasant cat-like odour. The only 

 other Orchis I found was the usual spotted 

 O. maculata. Considering the fact that the 

 Orchis is a very northern genus of plants and 

 the Ophrys quite southern, I expected to find 

 far more of the latter than the former, but my 

 expectations were not realised. As shown, I 

 found eight sorts of Orchis, but I only saw 

 three kinds of the Ophrys. 



Contrary to the usual rule that when once 

 a kind is found it is afterwards seen in very 

 large numbers was Ophrys fusca. I only saw 

 one single specimen of this queer little plant, 

 which was amongst the wild headlands of 

 Cap Sagro on a particularly stormy day. 

 Briquet, in his unfinished " Prodrome," is too 

 apt to give fully detailed descriptions of the 

 localities in which plants grow, but I found 

 many other habitats besides those he 

 mentions. For example, he says that O. 

 bombylifera only grows in the extreme south 

 and on Cap Corse, whereas I found it in large 

 numbers towards the centre in the hills above 

 the Biguglia Lagoon. This so-called Bumble 

 Bee is one of the least apt in its impersona- 

 tion of all the insect simulating kinds. Nor 

 can I say that the Spider, O. aranifera, very 

 strongly resembles the insect from which it 

 is named ; the form certainly does suggest an 

 insect but not necessarily a spider. The 

 variety atrata is fairly common, diflenng from 

 the type, which does not appear to grow on 

 the island, by the prominent protuberances 

 on the lip. 



The number of specimens of the Serapias 

 is astonishing, but there are only four 

 varieties. I found the very beautiful S. 

 cordigera, large and heart-shaped, for which 

 I heard a quaint local name, " Wolf's 

 Throat ; " the small flowered S. occultata, 

 which grows into very large plants ; the long- 

 lipped S. longipetala ; and the small Tongue 

 Orchid, S. lingua. The pretty little Pectinea 

 intacta is by no means uncommon on damp 

 rocks. The usual colour is pink, in stripes, 

 but here it is frequently of a creamy shade. 

 The great purple Limodorum abortivum is 

 quite a remarkable plant, being of one 

 uniform shade of purple, growing about three 

 feet high and quite leafless. 



